Dear all,
In Judaism, our months begin with the New Moon (which is arguably either no moon or the tiniest / invisible sliver of a moon). Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins with the month of Tishrei.
Tonight, in these ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), I looked up at the moon – a bit larger now. It reminded me how our souls should be at this time of year.
Yearning to grow – yet not full of itself.
Glowing softly – yet piercing darkness.
Directly connecting – yet in a sublime way.
Emitting light – yet reflecting the light of others.
These ten days, as the moon gets larger, we take a moment in time to keep our souls in check, doing what we can to be holy – and to be humble.
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
A change in perspective can shift the focus of our day – and even our lives. We have an opportunity to harness “a moment in time,” allowing our souls to be both grounded and lifted. This blog shows how the simplest of daily experiences can become the most meaningful of life’s blessings. All it takes is a moment in time.
Rabbi Zach Shapiro is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Akiba of Culver City, a Reform Jewish Congregation in California. He earned his B.A. in Spanish from Colby College in 1992, and his M.A.H.L. from HUC-JIR in 1996. He was ordained from HUC-JIR – Cincinnati, in 1997. He was appointed to the HUC-JIR Board of Governors in 2018.
